Here’s How To Keep Your Pets Calm During Firework Season

Pets love the noise and excitement of games, but sometimes the wrong kind of sound can make them extremely nervous.

This is especially true of firework season, when Halloween, Diwali and Christmas all come around in the space of a couple of months. Seeing the night sky light up might be exciting, but it can give our pets a nervous breakdown.

Here are five ways to keep your furry friend as relaxed as possible when the explosions start.

Create a quiet, safe haven

Choose the room where your pet spends the most time, maybe under the stairs or in a cupboard – this is the place they feel most comfortable and will be the best place to create a safe haven.

Next, fill the area with soft blankets and their favorite toys – anything comforting to soften the impact of a sudden noise.

You could even consider sound-proofing a room in the house, especially if that would be useful for other purposes, like playing an instrument without upsetting the neighbors.

Pets, especially dogs, tend to be territorial, so giving them a defined area that’s well protected from the bangs is the best way to keep stress levels at a minimum.

Eliminate surprising sounds from your home

Often noises that your pet might not even notice normally become a triggering sound during times of stress. The high-pitched sound of a ringtone, or sound effects in a video or online slots game might cause distress if they start to ring out of nowhere.

Try to remember to turn notifications off or put devices on silent so that trigger sounds don’t add to the chaos. The last thing your pet needs is a firework backed up by the Crazy Frog ringtone.

Instead, there are tools that help your pet acclimatize to the chaos of fireworks. Trusted therapeutical methods, like Sound Scary, allow you to desensitize your animal to loud noises by easing them into a series of co-ordinated sounds. It’s important to start a few weeks ahead of the event, but the results have been verified as effective by experts.

Carry on as normal

Pets have a kind of sixth sense in that they pick up on our anxiety, especially dogs who have it built into their pack mentality.

Even though you’ll be doing things differently, you should always keep your outward demeanour relaxed: don’t show that the fireworks make you nervous (if that’s the case) and don’t smother them with extra affection, like covering their ears from the bangs.

If you like to play games with your pet, keep doing so as this will also help to distract them from the outside. In fact, keep their daily routine the same, including exercise and mealtimes, so that they don’t pick up on a change in circumstances.

Do lots of daytime exercise

Exercise is proven to help us sleep, as well as help us stay physically healthy, and it’s the same for dogs.

Thankfully, people don’t tend to let off fireworks first thing, so this is the perfect time to head out for a long walk and help them let off steam. It will also mean they come home tired and are more likely to sleep peacefully.

If you don’t normally do this, try to start at least a few days before the firework event so that they acclimatise to the routine. It might be hard for you at first, but the benefits are well worth it.

Get some pet-friendly anxiety remedies

Pet anxiety remedies are popular. Seriously. Also known as ‘calming aids’, oils like cannabis extract oil and hemp seed are proved to help pets calm down, and do not create psychoactive side effects, according to studies.

If you’re a little nervous about this, then make sure you choose one that are 100% naturally made and don’t contain additives.

Pheromone diffusers are another way of soothing your pet. These spray calming chemicals into the room which start to work instantly – again, these don’t produce side-effects, but are better used along with behavioural therapy that helps your animal cope better with stressful situations.

It’s not surprising pets have such a tough time of it in firework season. A dog hears twice as many frequencies as a human, for example, and can hear sounds from up to 80 feet away, compared to 20 feet for us. With this in mind, the above tips might help your pet more than you think – and give you peace of mind in the process.